Bake Off could be running out of ideas, says former winner

Former Great British Bake Off winner Sophie Faldo has said the show could be running out of ideas for its themed weeks.

The 35-year-old triumphed in the hit programme in 2017, with judge Prue Leith accidentally revealing her name early online.

The Channel 4 show is having a Dairy Week for the first time this year and Faldo thinks “it’ll be a good one”.

She told Radiotimes.com that “dairy is so intrinsic to baking you don’t think to highlight it”.

But she added: “I think it’s important to do something a little bit different every year and I think they’re probably running out of ideas.”

The former British Army officer revealed how producers film the scenes in which contestants’ home lives and hobbies are introduced to viewers.

“What people don’t know is that the producers can’t use strangers when filming as they’d have to reveal details about Bake Off, so they usually use friends or family or colleagues,” Faldo said.

“Right from the start, when you have your telephone interview, you talk to the producers about what you like to do outside of work.

“You then put down a couple of things you think you can do something with as a cutaway – me, for example, I said I was a track cyclist and a rower.

“When I said I was a track cyclist, producers were like ‘We’ve done stuff in a velodrome, can we put you on a river?’

“I said ‘I didn’t really row anymore’ and they were like ‘It’s fine’.”

Faldo believes judge Paul Hollywood had “pulled it back a bit” with his congratulatory handshakes.

“If people feel he’s doing it too often, it loses its value”, she said.

And she added: “Paul is harsh in Bread Week, but he’s harsh every week, every year! He already knows what the issues are the moment he cuts into the loaf.

“If it seems like he was more brutal, a lot of that has to do with the editing. I’m pretty sure he’s like that all the time on the show.”